Messier Marathon 1999
This year 1999, March New Moon will occur on March 17.8, giving the best
opportunity for a Messier Marathon weekend on March 20 and a secondary
chance on March 13, 1999. As the second-best chance occurs first, one may
be well adviced to take this one also, or of course any date during the
week if possible. At least near the second (better) date, there will be a
good chance to see all 110 Messier objects
in one night for observers between 20 and 40 degrees Northern latitude.
This year, there will be a considerably good chance to combine the Messier
marathon with an all-planet marathon, i.e. you can observe all
solar-system planets during this night. While no spectacularly bright
comet and - up to now - no considerable supernova was detected to be
present at this time as in former years, four cometsbrighter than
magnitude 13 are visible, accordint to the JPL
List of Currently Visible Comets:
Comet RA (2000.0) Dec RA (2000.0) Dec mag
March 13, 1999 March 20, 1999
C/1998 M5 (LINEAR) 20:04 +87:29.0 07:39 +87:19.8 9.6
C/1998 P1 (Williams) 07 48.87 +41 59.3 07 38.37 +42 03.8 12.6
C/1998 U5 (LINEAR) 21 02.68 +14 00.8 21 01.01 +14 14.1 12.2
P/1998 U3 (Jager) 06 39.25 +22 13.9 06 44.97 +21 18.7 10.8
Also,
meteors from various showers may occur, and depending on your
location, you may be able to observe the
International Space Station, ISS
or the
Russian Space Station Mir.
Messier Marathon Events 1999
The following Messier Marathon Events have been announced:
- The 1999 All Arizona Messier Marathon will
be held Saturday, March 13, 1999, again at Ray Farnsworth's site south
of Arizona City, AZ (see map).
- There will be a Messier Marathon at Hudson Lake Michigan on Mar 13-14
sponsored by the University Lowbrow Astronomer's Club. The actual event
will be at the Lake Hudson State Park just outside of Hudson Michigan.
That park is an official state-sponsored dark site.
- The Astronomy Connection in
the San Francisco bay area will hold a Messier Marathon, in the new
California state park, Pacheco State Park, which
has the darkest skies available in that area. This event will take place
March 19-20, 1999.
- The Local Group of Deep Sky Observers will sponsor a Messier
Marathon, the Highlands Messier Party '99, during March 18-21.
Actual Marathon date will be March 19, and will be tried again on
March 20, should the weather go sour. It will be held at 9 Mile
Campground, 17 miles west of Okeechobee, Florida. For more
information, contact
Susan S. Carroll
(portia@sciastro.net)
- The 1999 East Coast Star Party's Messier
Marathon, organized by Kent Blackwell, will take place in
Coinjock, NC (one hour south of Norfolk, VA) on March 12-13, 1999
(rain date: March 19-20).
- The Northern Virginia Astronomy Club will hold a
Messier Marathon on
March 20-21, 1999 at C.M. Crockett Park.
Late Additions!
- The San Diego Astronomy Association is holding a Messier Marathon at
it's Tierra del Sol observing site. This year the Marathon is hosted at
the Tierra del Sol site by Craig Ewing (e-mail Craig,
cbewing@crash.cts.com
or call at 619-581-2582 for details, or come to TDS).
- The Puerto Rico Astronomy Society held their first Marathon
at Hacienda La Esperanza Manati, Puerto Rico on March 20th 1999
(communicated by Rafael Castro
Sociedad de Astronomia de Puerto Rico)
- There will be a Messier Marathon at Hudson Lake Michigan on
March 13-14, 1999 sponsored by the University Lowbrow Astronomer's Club.
The actual event will be at the Lake Hudson State Park just outside of
Hudson Michigan. That park is an official state-sponsored dark site.
Please email me any further scheduled
events for inclusion here.
If you have undertaken, or participated in, a Messier Marathon, 1999 or earlier,
if not already done so, please email me
your or your group's results, or the link to your results page, for inclusion in
our Messier Marathon Results page!
Marathon Home
Hartmut Frommert
(spider@seds.org)
Christine Kronberg
(smil@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)
Last Modification: 3 Mar 1999, 11:00 MET